This One Pot Cheesy Taco Skillet only requires 5 ingredients and will take just 30 minutes to prepare! Delicious and budget friendly, this hearty recipe is quick, easy, and leaves little mess for easy cleanup!
This taco skillet is great to serve over tortilla chips, rice, or in your choice of crunchy or soft taco shells. You can even use it to make nachos or on healthy salads and taco bowls!
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💚 Why You'll Love This Recipe
Love tacos but want a dish that's a little bit better for you? Try these low carb tacos for an easy and filling weeknight meal! This dish only requires 5 ingredients and will be hot and on the table in under 30 minutes.
Best of all, this taco skillet dinner can also be used to make nachos, taco salad, or served in tortilla bowls for a fun take on taco night. The whole family will love this dish, and you'll love the easy prep and clean up!
Big taco fan? Keep things interesting with this Easy Chicken Taco Soup, or use this Homemade Taco Seasoning to infuse any dish with taco flavor! And make a quick Lime Crema Sauce to add flavor to any taco dish.
🧂 Ingredients Needed
- ground beef - the perfect protein for this yummy one skillet meal.
- pepper and onion strips - these frozen veggie strips are an easy way to add nutrition and flavor without extra prep.
- diced tomatoes - I like to use the kind with green chilies included for a touch of heat.
- taco seasoning - provides that classic blend of familiar Mexican flavors.
- shredded cheddar - an excellent cheese to pair with taco flavors, cheddar will give your skillet meal a nice melty top that pulls everything together.
🔪 Instructions
- Brown the ground beef in a large pot or skillet.
- Stir in the pepper and onion strips and cook until they're thawed.
- Pour in diced tomatoes with chilies and add the taco seasoning. Bring the mixture to a simmer and cook 5-7 minutes.
- Remove any excess liquid, then top with shredded cheddar and cover until melted. Served with or over top of chips, with rice, pasta, and more!
If you would rather use the oven than the stovetop, check out this delicious taco casserole recipe!
❔ FAQs
This depends on what kind of meat you're using. Anything that's extra lean and doesn't contain much fat might need some olive oil to prevent sticking, but if your meat has a high enough fat content, it likely won't need extra help.
When it comes to taco fix-ins, the sky's the limit. Add a squeeze of fresh lime juice, fresh chopped parsley or cilantro, shredded lettuce, jalapeno, pickled red onion, black olives, white onion, and more.
One of the most common types of meat to use when making tacos is ground beef. When it comes to this cheesy taco skillet, you could also make it a turkey taco skillet with ground turkey, or use ground chicken.
💭 Expert Tips and Tricks
- Before you top with the cheese, taste the mixture and ensure that there's enough flavor. If not, add more taco seasoning.
- If your strips of pepper and onion are too frozen, you can place them in a bowl and microwave for about a minute to soften. This will make them easier to work with.
- Spoon your taco skillet dinner over top a plate of tortilla chips to make a quick batch of easy homemade nachos.
📌 Quick and tasty, this taco skillet dinner is an easier way to pull off Taco Tuesday! The whole family will love this simple and satisfying one pot recipe.
💡 Substitutions and Variations
- Feel free to add your favorite taco toppings or fix-ins! Sour cream, taco sauce, lettuce, lime, bell peppers, more chopped tomatoes, green onions, black beans, jalapeno slices, mushrooms, onion, or some fresh chopped herbs.
- For an even lighter version of this dish, substitute turkey or chicken for the ground beef.
- Use a Mexican blend or a shredded cheese like pepper jack or monterey jack to add a bit of extra heat and flavor with your cheese layer.
- If you like additional flavor and heat, you can add ingredients like chili powder or hot sauce to your cheesy taco skillet.
🥫 Storage and Reheating
Store your leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to four days. You can also store your cheesy taco skillet in the freezer for four to five months.
To reheat, either microwave until heated through, or transfer back to a skillet or pot over medium heat and stir until hot and melty.
🍴 What To Serve With This Dish
Serve your taco skillet dinner over top this Instant Pot Cilantro Lime Rice or an even healthier Instant Pot Quinoa for a complete and filling meal!
You can also serve Jalapeno Cheddar Biscuits or Air Fryer Corn Ribs on the side.
✔️ More One Pot Recipes You'll Love
- One Skillet Garlic Chicken with Rice - Pair this quick and delicious chicken dinner with a quick veggie for a simple and reliable weeknight meal.
- One Pot Zucchini Mushroom Pasta - Combine healthy zucchini with earthy mushrooms and pasta!
- Easy One Skillet Cheese Tortellini - Majorly cheesy and comforting, this one skillet meal will become a family favorite.
- One Pot Pork Chops and Vegetables - This recipe from Family Fresh Meals contains everything you need for a healthy dinner!
Taco Skillet Dinner
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📋 Recipe Card
One Pot Cheesy Taco Skillet
Ingredients
- 1 pound extra lean ground beef
- 12 ounces frozen pepper and onion strips (1 package)
- 10 ounces diced tomatoes with green chilies (1 can)
- 2 tablespoons taco seasoning
- 1 cup shredded cheddar
Instructions
- In a large skillet, brown the ground beef.1 pound extra lean ground beef
- Add the frozen pepper and onion strips and cook until thawed.12 ounces frozen pepper and onion strips
- Add the diced tomatoes and taco seasoning. Bring to a simmer and cook for 5-7 minutes.10 ounces diced tomatoes with green chilies, 2 tablespoons taco seasoning
- If the mixture seems to have too much liquid, tilt the skillet and remove the excess with a spoon. Then distribute the cheese on top, cover the skillet and cook another 2 minutes until the cheese is fully melted.1 cup shredded cheddar
- Serve over tortilla chips, rice, pasta, or cauliflower rice, or on taco shells or lettuce leaves.
Notes
- You can substitute ground turkey for ground beef if desired.
- Taste the mixture before adding the cheese and add more taco seasoning if needed.
- If the pepper and onion strips are frozen solid, place them in a microwave safe bowl and microwave on 1 minute to partially thaw them ad make them easier to mix into the ground beef.
- This mixture can also be used to make homemade nachos.
Video
Nutrition
Nutritional information is an estimate. The nutritional values for your final dish may vary based on measuring differences and products used.
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Amy Liu Dong says
Oh my gosh, your taco skillet recipe is so delicious and it's making my mouthwatering!
Jamie says
Awesome! This cheesy taco skillet recipe looks absolutely delicious and very yummy! The cheesiness of this dish makes it so enticing and tempting! Loving this already!
Ann says
This skillet recipe was super easy and quick to make. Perfect for a busy weeknight meal!
Tracey says
This was so good and easy to make. Next time I will double the recipe. We treated it as a dip and ate it with nachos.
Kushigalu says
Drooling over this taco skillet. Love everything about this recipe and can't wait to try it.
veenaazmanov says
Cheesy One pot meal sounds delicious. Perfect for an easy and quick Dinner.
Justine says
One pot meals are the BEST! I love that this one only has a few ingredients, it came together so quickly, and my kids gobbled it right up!
Wanda says
Always looking for easy and quick dinner ideas to feed the kids before rushing out to an activity. Adding this to our weekly meal plan, cause yum!
Dana S says
This is SO good. We just love serving it with tortilla chips and scooping it all up!